The Family Business

Luke 15:1-7
A Jewish businessman in Chicago sent his son to Israel for a year to absorb the culture.
When the son returned, he said, "Papa, I had a great time in Israel. By the way, I converted to Christianity."
"Oy vey," said the father. "What have I done?" He took his problem to his best friend, Ike.
"Ike," he said, "I sent my son to Israel, and he came home a Christian. What can I do?"
"Funny you should ask," said Ike. "I too, sent my son to Israel, and he also
came home a Christian. Perhaps we should go see the rabbi."
So they did, and they explained their problem to the rabbi.
"Funny you should ask," said the rabbi. "I, too, sent my son to Israel, and he also came home a Christian. What is happening to our young people?"
And so they all prayed, telling the Lord about their sons. As they finished
their prayer, a voice came from the heavens: "Funny you should ask," said the Voice. "I, too, sent my Son to Israel . . ."
From the age of 12, when Jesus was accidentally left behind in Jerusalem, Jesus made a fundamental statement about His life. He said He must be about His Father’s business. When He returned to the Father, Jesus left that business to us, but before He ascended to heaven, He left us a blueprint of how to run that business: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:19-20
We have to ask ourselves how closely we’ve kept to the mission. It seems the longer that we are believers, the more we insulate ourselves from unbelievers. It is often the case that when someone comes to Christ, the people they used to hang around with no longer share the same interests. If we aren’t careful, we even become critical of those who do spend time with unbelievers, which would align us more with the Pharisees and scribes than with Jesus. We certainly don’t want that to be the case.
Of course, we recognize too that Jesus didn’t have the sin nature that we have. We need the fellowship and encouragement of other believers to help us stay on the right path, which is part of the reason Jesus started the church.

Proposition: If we’re going to be in the Family business of reaching people, we need to learn from Jesus’ example of how to do it. What do we learn from Jesus about how to reach people?

I. HE WAS INCLUSIVE-
Jesus was approachable and welcoming while the religious leaders were exclusive and hostile
He wasn’t judgmental but the religious leaders were very critical and judgmental
What strikes me is that the interest seems to be mutual: they approached and He received
Part of the objection of the religious leaders was that Jesus ate with them
The table is a place of familiarity and fellowship.
Satan is attacking the family table today because of the importance it has played in bonding us
But especially in that time, a table wasn’t like ours and they didn’t eat sitting up, but reclined
They ate out of a communal bowl and used the bread as their utensils
Think in terms of chips and dip in the center of people reclining
Pharisees would usually only eat with other friends who observed the same rules
The Pharisees didn’t want to eat with those people any more than you’d eat off